The movie will replay on FX (Fox movie channel/first run/original series) Friday June 25 beginning at 7:00 PM Eastern and upon ending will immediately play again from 10:30 ending at 2:00 AM Saturday morning.

If you like movies as character studies along with deep symbolism and multiple permutations of interpretations, and you have yet to see this movie you will want to see it.

If you have the equipment, DVR it or tape it with your VCR.

Some think this movie is all about the ruthlessness of capitalism and the oil business. IMO it is more about competition, religion, and/or perhaps achieving some form of Godhood.

This is an impressive move, if for nothing else the authenticity of the oil country scenes from the turn of the last century

Watch it, and if it unsettles you (as it did me) return here to posit your own impressions.

The movie will replay on FX (Fox movie channel/first run/original series) Friday June 25 beginning at 7:00 PM Eastern and upon ending will immediately play again from 10:30 ending at 2:00 AM Saturday morning.

If you like movies as character studies along with deep symbolism and multiple permutations of interpretations, and you have yet to see this movie you will want to see it.

If you have the equipment, DVR it or tape it with your VCR.

Some think this movie is all about the ruthlessness of capitalism and the oil business. IMO it is more about competition, religion, and/or perhaps achieving some form of Godhood.

This is an impressive move, if for nothing else the authenticity of the oil country scenes from the turn of the last century

Watch it, and if it unsettles you (as it did me) return here to posit your own impressions.

I thought it was more about a man's journey to insanity, with the ruthlessness of capitalism being a subplot. I did think FX putting it on now was timely. In the beginning it showed how an oil well is capped (above ground anyway) in order to preserve it in the ground. It gets blown up.

I thought it was more about a man's journey to insanity, with the ruthlessness of capitalism being a subplot. I did think FX putting it on now was timely. In the beginning it showed how an oil well is capped (above ground anyway) in order to preserve it in the ground. It gets blown up.

Great movie, and deserved its academy nominations.

Click to expand...

Maggie, IMO in the broadest sense, you just defined it and the main character; also the current public consciousness about the oil business.

It also has a deep religious aspect to it. I'm sure you also were aware that Daniel maneuvered Eli, the preacher, into saying &#8220;I am a false prophet and God is a superstition,&#8221; something a religious person would never do, and he did it for money; to make a financial deal. It was clear to me that was his revenge for the time that Eli had forced him (Daniel) to repent his sins, saying &#8220;I am a sinner!&#8221; &#8220;I have abandoned my child&#8221; &#8220;I will never backslide&#8221; &#8220;I was lost but now I am found&#8221; &#8220;I have abandoned my child&#8221; repeatedly* - and in so doing, humiliating him before the people who he would deal with for oil.

Once he had gotten Eli to admit to being a false prophet, that god is a superstition, in effect rejecting god which is a so called &#8220;mortal sin," he murders him thus robbing him of any chance to repent and recoup his soul.
I.E. - "The fundamental option" the "mortal sin" which would take a soul to hell is for a person to willingly, knowingly reject God and His love entirely.

Daniel I am a sinner scene
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwkP7Gnp7ek&NR=1]YouTube - There Will Be Blood- Daniel's Baptism[/ame]

*(here it gets hairy; an investor who had offered him a Million-$ for his proven well saying it would enable him to take life easy and enjoy time with his son, so insulted him that he unexpectedly responded to the offer with &#8220;I will come to your house sometime when you don&#8217;t expect it and cut your throat.&#8221

wow yall saw a totally different movie than i did....it was about love and the lack of....he adopted the child for sorry reasons but grew to love the boy...then the accident....the boy turns on him...then his brother shows up and you see the boy's jealousy...eli loved his church and would do anything to promote his church...but the one thing he could not do ...was heal the boy....much conflict is over that...oil is just a background story....the entire story is about love and what happens when one rejects love....as he did when he rejected his son...for being his competitor....

when he kills eli...he again is killing what hurt him..the high and mightly judgemental people who surrounded him.....who judged him....who told him he needed to be selling out and retiring to care for his son...when his brother proves to be false he can only do one thing...kill....he has rejected the love of god and man.

and the last words of the movie..what are they referring too? is he finished in life, or finished in revenge?

I thought it was more about a man's journey to insanity, with the ruthlessness of capitalism being a subplot. I did think FX putting it on now was timely. In the beginning it showed how an oil well is capped (above ground anyway) in order to preserve it in the ground. It gets blown up.

Great movie, and deserved its academy nominations.

Click to expand...

Maggie, IMO in the broadest sense, you just defined it and the main character; also the current public consciousness about the oil business.

It also has a deep religious aspect to it. I'm sure you also were aware that Daniel maneuvered Eli, the preacher, into saying I am a false prophet and God is a superstition, something a religious person would never do, and he did it for money; to make a financial deal. It was clear to me that was his revenge for the time that Eli had forced him (Daniel) to repent his sins, saying I am a sinner! I have abandoned my child I will never backslide I was lost but now I am found I have abandoned my child repeatedly* - and in so doing, humiliating him before the people who he would deal with for oil.

Once he had gotten Eli to admit to being a false prophet, that god is a superstition, in effect rejecting god which is a so called mortal sin," he murders him thus robbing him of any chance to repent and recoup his soul.
I.E. - "The fundamental option" the "mortal sin" which would take a soul to hell is for a person to willingly, knowingly reject God and His love entirely.

Daniel I am a sinner scene
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwkP7Gnp7ek&NR=1]YouTube - There Will Be Blood- Daniel's Baptism[/ame]

*(here it gets hairy; an investor who had offered him a Million-$ for his proven well saying it would enable him to take life easy and enjoy time with his son, so insulted him that he unexpectedly responded to the offer with I will come to your house sometime when you dont expect it and cut your throat.)

Click to expand...

His obsession with Eli was part of his insanity. A lot of people hate that kind of hellfire and brimstone evangelism, but they don't carry the grudge to the point of murder. Daniel was one of those people who literally obsesses over any perceived slight at all, and then seeks revenge. He even thought his son's deafness was his fault (rather than the explosion) and when he mistakenly believed other people were making fun of him (the son), Daniel perceived that to be criticism of himself, so his revenge on the investor who made an was a reaction to THAT more so than the $1 million challenge. He welcomed challenge. As you recall, Daniel was fine in the dining room scene until the investor made a comment about "your son." (Also, only Daniel knew that the child was NOT his real son. Another touchy subject.)

That's the way I viewed it anyway. He became so overwhelmed by his success that he thought he could do no wrong, and had to prove that to anyone who doubted it.

wow yall saw a totally different movie than i did....it was about love and the lack of....he adopted the child for sorry reasons but grew to love the boy...then the accident....the boy turns on him...then his brother shows up and you see the boy's jealousy...eli loved his church and would do anything to promote his church...but the one thing he could not do ...was heal the boy....much conflict is over that...oil is just a background story....the entire story is about love and what happens when one rejects love....as he did when he rejected his son...for being his competitor....

when he kills eli...he again is killing what hurt him..the high and mightly judgemental people who surrounded him.....who judged him....who told him he needed to be selling out and retiring to care for his son...when his brother proves to be false he can only do one thing...kill....he has rejected the love of god and man.

and the last words of the movie..what are they referring too? is he finished in life, or finished in revenge?

Click to expand...

And that is the question. Different perceptions by different viewers! So the ending was brilliant! (Unlike the other dark drama that year "No Country for Old Men," where the maniac was on the verge of finally being nailed, and the movie just abruptly ended. Did he or didn' he? Aaargh!!!)

The movie will replay on FX (Fox movie channel/first run/original series) Friday June 25 beginning at 7:00 PM Eastern and upon ending will immediately play again from 10:30 ending at 2:00 AM Saturday morning.

If you like movies as character studies along with deep symbolism and multiple permutations of interpretations, and you have yet to see this movie you will want to see it.

If you have the equipment, DVR it or tape it with your VCR.

Some think this movie is all about the ruthlessness of capitalism and the oil business. IMO it is more about competition, religion, and/or perhaps achieving some form of Godhood.

This is an impressive move, if for nothing else the authenticity of the oil country scenes from the turn of the last century

Watch it, and if it unsettles you (as it did me) return here to posit your own impressions.

wow yall saw a totally different movie than i did....it was about love and the lack of....he adopted the child for sorry reasons but grew to love the boy...then the accident....the boy turns on him...then his brother shows up and you see the boy's jealousy...eli loved his church and would do anything to promote his church...but the one thing he could not do ...was heal the boy....much conflict is over that...oil is just a background story....the entire story is about love and what happens when one rejects love....as he did when he rejected his son...for being his competitor....

when he kills eli...he again is killing what hurt him..the high and mightly judgemental people who surrounded him.....who judged him....who told him he needed to be selling out and retiring to care for his son...when his brother proves to be false he can only do one thing...kill....he has rejected the love of god and man.

and the last words of the movie..what are they referring too? is he finished in life, or finished in revenge?

Click to expand...

And that is the question. Different perceptions by different viewers! So the ending was brilliant! (Unlike the other dark drama that year "No Country for Old Men," where the maniac was on the verge of finally being nailed, and the movie just abruptly ended. Did he or didn' he? Aaargh!!!)

Click to expand...

What I love about "No Country For Old Men" was how close Tommy Lee Jones came to figuring out that the hitman was using a pneumatic gun and closing in on him but he lost it.

The title of the movie was emblematic of that. Tommy Lee Jones was an old school Texas sheriff that spent his career tossing drunks and small timers in the county jail had no perspective of how ruthless and violent the heroin trade was. He could never catch the assassin, because his brain simply couldn't perceive what was going on. He was the "Old Man" that had been left in the past.

In the end, after the soliloquy, if the hitman was coming for his character and if it was foreshadowing or if his character simply realized that he had been outgunned on this case.

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